Which Way is Witch?
by ThePink1 at Reefside.Net
Summary: After a personal tragedy, Will discovers some disturbing truths about herself, including why SHE was chosen to wield the Heart.
1. The End

Which Dimension is W

**Which Way is W.i.t.c.h.?**

By: _**A J**_

Disclaimer: I do not own W.i.t.c.h. or Amber. I'm merely a Fan of both expressing my appreciation through this original piece of fiction, with no monetary gain sought.

Chapter 1

'The End'

_Excerpt from the 'Fadden Hills Herald':_

Obituary- Anthony William Vandom, b. 28 June 1968, d. 18 June 2008.

Noted Financial Advisor and Columnist for the Herald ('90-'08), Tony Vandom died yesterday afternoon in an automobile accident. He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Serena Renee Courtland-Vandom, and his daughter, Wilhelmina Noella Vandom, 13, of Heatherfield. Service to be held at 4:00 pm Wednesday at Parkview Memorial.

"Hey, mom, did you grab today's paper, yet? I'm looking for the Entertainment Section. Matt's band is supposed to …" Will's voice fizzled out as she came into the kitchen of their apartment and saw her mom at the table.

Susan Reynolds – she'd reassumed her maiden name for all the right reasons after Tony remarried – was shaking badly. One hand was holding her (thankfully) almost empty coffee cup, and the other was clenching the Fadden Hills Herald, which she'd bought on the way home from work last night. Normally, Susan just checked the Society Page to see if any of her old friends were getting married, remarried, divorced, or having kids, but today the normally cheery news (or lack thereof) had taken a decided turn for the worst. Now she sat, entranced, rereading the announcement over and over in hopes there was a misprint, or a problem with her new reading glasses. So far, no luck with either.

At Will's entrance, Susan jumped about a foot, and the dregs of cold coffee in her cup 'plashed on her knuckles. "Will!" she cried, hastily tossing the paper onto its mates still on the table. "You scared me, honey. What're you doing up this early?"

"Whoa, Mom. Time to switch to decaf. I heard your alarm going off, and wanted to catch the newspaper before you took of with it this morning. Cobalt Blue is supposed to have gotten a review in the Entertainment pages."

"Cobol who?" Susan asked, her mind still repeating her ex-husband's death notice.

"No, Mom. _Cobalt Blue_, Matt's band." Blowing a strand of hair out of her eyes, Will walked over to the table and started rifling through the haphazard pile of newsprint. "Society, Sports, Classified, Comics," Will tucked that under her arm as she kept digging until, "Ahah! Entertainment!" She settled herself in the other chair of their breakfast nook, fished a granola bar out of their breadbox, and started flipping through pages one-handed while she unwrapped her 'double chocolate delight' bar with the other, humming what sounded like theme music under her breath the while. The odd song got Susan's attention before anything else.

"What's that you're singing, Will? It sounds like the theme for a cartoon. I thought you'd 'graduated' to _real_ TV, like CSI: Miami?"

"Huh?" Will looked up, her cheeks flushed. "Oh, uh, Matt and the guys were teasing us about being a girl-gang last night, especially when they heard our nickname, W.i.t.c.h. You know, the one Hay Lin came up with, from our initials? Anyway, after the show, his band was teasing us and then Taranee's BF Nigel – he's the bass player – said, if we're a gang, we should have a theme song, and Matt made up that one for us last night on the spot. Cool, huh?"

Susan smiled in spite of the nasty shock her morning had started with. She only hoped her daughter's friends would stick with her through this latest upset in their anything-but-normal lives. "Yes, honey, _very_ cool. But you're not going to find their review in that paper; that's the Herald, honey. Yesterday's in fact …"

That was as far as she got before Will started flipping back through the paper pile, saying "The Herald? Cool! Wonder if Clarissa's mom had her twins, yet?" She nattered on as she located the Life Section and flipped through to 'Announcements'. "Hmmmm … births, nothing, married, nothing, dea …" Her voice trailed off as she came, obviously, painfully, to her father's obituary. Her eyes teared up, her lip started to tremble, and she dropped the paper and her unfinished granola bar on the table as she turned to look at her mother with haunted eyes.

Susan just nodded, her eyes every bit as watery. Then the two women fell into each other's arms, crying openly. They were still quietly sobbing together several minutes later when Will's frog clock started 'ROAK'ing shrilly from her bedroom.

The absurd noise got Susan to laugh, and she sat back to look at her daughter. Poor Will was completely disheveled and tear-streaked, and the left shoulder of her nightie was completely soaked from Susan's own waterworks.

"I … I'd better get that," Will choked out, her throat still tight from crying. Her chair scraped across the fake hardwood floor, and she headed down the hall to her room, her back unusually stiff and her shoulders still trembling from the control she was trying to exert over her emotions.

Will found herself going through the motions of a normal day, letting her inner autopilot take over, as it did on so many mornings after serving as a Guardian of the Multiverse. After resetting her alarm, she picked out her schoolclothes by force of habit. Her hands stayed away from her middrif shirts and her hip-hugging jeans, despite the heat wave Heatherfield was enjoying. (Mrs. Knickerbacker was a stickler for 'proper attire'.) Still moving more by rote than anything else, in the aftermath of her rude awakening, Will trudged back to the kitchen, where her mom was just hanging up the phone.

Susan looked back up as she heard Will return. One look at her daughter was enough to justify what she'd just done. Will had dressed herself when half awake before, but usually managed a modicum of coordination in the effort. Her current attempt, however, so clashed that Susan's eyes started to tear up in sheer visual rebellion.

Will was wearing an undersized pair of Capri pants in that new girl-camo pattern, with the usual greens and tans mixed in with hot pink. Her socks, plainly visible under the calf-defining cuffs, were a mismatched dark blue footie and a lavender tube sock. She'd shoved these into her black dress pumps, which were the only things that didn't clash with the lace-edged black turtleneck top Will was now fighting the collar of. She was trying to get the stubborn tag to stay inside the collar. Susan suspected it was only the air-conditioning that was keeping Will from clawing her way back out of the hot, itchy shirt.

Taking pity on her little lost cub, she stood up and gently steered Will back to her abandoned stool, and handed her a new granola bar – one with lots of raisins and nuts. Fixing Will's collar for her, Susan slowly sat back across from her daughter, watching as she ate the granola bar distractedly while staring at a spot on the wall near their front door. She was just finishing the last bite, when the clock – a lovely antique with a tiny pair of clockwork smiths who came out and hammered the hour on a tiny anvil bell, which Dean had gotten for Susan for the anniversary of their first 'Will approved' date – chimed seven o'clock. Will stood up automatically, reaching over the back of the couch behind her for her backpack in a practiced move that told Susan how often Will's mornings ran like this.

She grabbed Will's sleeve, gaining her attention. "Honey, I called the school. I told them you wouldn't be in for a couple of days, so we could take care of all the stuff in Fadden Hills. I'm calling in to Simultech, too. I may have divorced your dad, but that doesn't mean I didn't love him." When Will's eyes looked up at her mom bleakly, Susan had to fight back a wave of fresh tears. Grabbing the phone back up, Susan did just that; letting her assistant Amanda know she was using two of her personal days to handle a family emergency. That done, she got back up to get a fresh cup of coffee. Will sank back onto her stool in delayed reaction to suddenly having the day free from school, and Susan took pity on her and mixed her up a double mug of hot cocoa.

Sitting back down at the table, Susan found her daughter reading the obituary again. Her eyes were just as watery but this time, she seemed to be taking in the article's other facets. As her mother set the giant mug of hot chocolate before her, Will threw the paper back on the table.

"Serena made the notice, but they didn't mention you. AND they screwed up my age!" Will sat back with her mug, sipping judiciously.

Susan had to fight back more tears, this time of pride, for her wonderful daughter. She'd known people who had suffered such a profound loss before, herself included, who hadn't moved through the 'seven stages' as well as her Will. Now considerably calmer with a fresh cup of coffee in front of her, Susan read the notice again for herself. Spotting what Will had, she also noticed something else not mentioned, which she didn't voice yet. Will had never met her paternal relatives, and now didn't seem the time to mention a subject that could easily become an all-day grilling from her daughter.

Focusing instead on what Will had, she said "You know, that's just plain sloppy journalism. I mean, your birth announcement, our marriage, _and_ our divorce were all in the Herald, so unless they've changed editors again in the last two years, that info's still in _somebody's_ in-box, even if it it's your father's."

"HA!" Will exclaimed, perked up by the hot chocolate as much as what her mother had just reminded her of. "Remember that big article in the Heatherfield Gazette about Simultech last year, the one that mentioned you and your new promotion? I sent a copy of that to Dad, so he'd know how well you … WE were doing." Her expression was defiant … until her stomach rumbled, looking for more than granola and cocoa. Will's cheeks turned as pink as the patches on her pants.

Susan chuckled silently into her coffee. "Tell you what, honey. Since we've got some time for once, I'll cook both of us a _real_ breakfast, and you go fix your outfit. And save the black stuff; we'll need it for tomorrow."

"What's wrong with my … oh … crap." Will had finally taken a good look at her clothing. "Mmommmm, why didn't you say something sooner?"


	2. She said what?

**Which Way is W.i.t.c.h.?**

By: _**A J**_

Disclaimer: I do not own W.i.t.c.h. or Amber. I'm merely a Fan of both expressing my appreciation through this original piece of fiction, with no monetary gain sought.

Chapter 2

'She said what?'

"Ohmigod … Ohmigod … Ohmigod!" Taranee was panting as she careened into Home Ec. Cornelia and Hay Lin looked up as she slid to a halt at their table. "You guys, Will's mom just called the office! She's keeping Will home for a couple of days for a funeral! Who do you think it is?"

"Well, obviously, not Will or Susan," Cornelia started. "And probably not Mister Collins, or Will would have shown at school anyway."

Hay Lin nodded nervously as Cornelia counted off names on her fingers. "How did you find out, Taranee," the young Asian girl asked, winding one of her hip-length pigtails through her fingers.

"I was checking in at the office with Mrs. Rudolph, and heard the secretary telling her. Just a sec," Taranee added as she closed her eyes and expanded her consciousness, looking for Irma telepathically. Finding her on the new track field, running laps as usual before first period now, Taranee mentally filled her in on the news about Will.

"_Yikes_," Irma replied. _"D'jyou talk to Will yet?"_

Taranee shook her head, then remembered Irma couldn't see her and sent back, _"No, she's too far away at home."_ Despite countless hours of practice, Taranee had yet to extend her telepathy's range past her current one-kilometer limit.

"_Hey, don't sweat it, T,"_ Irma sent back. _I'll give her a call during free period. Give the boys the heads-up, and I'll 411 you all the dirt at lunchtime."_ She finished her last lap, stretched, and started towards the showers.

Back in the Home Ec. room, Taranee blinked a few times until her eyes refocused. "Alright, Irma knows. She's got the first free period, so she'll find out more from Will and fill us in at lunch." She gulped before continuing. "We gotta let the guys know, though." She sat down at last.

"No prob, Taranee, I've got all three of our famous band-boys in my geography class next hour. I'll be 'News Girl' then." Cornelia fanned her hair out one-handed, letting it settle over her back again with a sigh. Two permanents, a pageboy cut shorter than Will or Taranee's, even a black dye-wash for Elyon's _very_ Goth birthday party, and Cornelia found to her dismay that every time they transformed back into their Guardian forms, her hair whooshed right back to waist-length blonde. At first, she'd taken Irma's teasing about being 'Natural Blonde for Life' in good humor, but after the fifth time, even the Water Guardian couldn't find it funny anymore. Especially since the other girls found out it happened to them, too! Taranee had put it into perspective for the others, pointing out that 'At least they'll never have to live through a 'bad hair day'.

"And I'll tell Elyon in Art," Hay Lin added, her ever-present smile still showing the braces she anxiously wanted removed. The 'shiny!' novelty had worn off long ago, and now she anxiously counted down the days till next Labor Day, the last day she'd have to endure with a bumpy metal bite. "OOOOH! I just remembered! I've got the next page of our extra credit project with me!" She dove for her backpack to show the other two girls her and Elyon's latest artistic collaboration, just as the bell rang.

The three girls looked up as Miss Sanchez walked in. "Alright, boys and girls, settle down. Today's the day I know some of you have been waiting all semester for: Traditional Chinese cooking. Hay Lin, are you ready?" The ever-perky Air Guardian's eyes lit up as she stood and walked to the front of the class.

"Hey, ev'rybody. I'm sure most of you know my family's restaurant, the Silver Dragon. We see enough of you in there, so it makes sense that you guys would love to cook some of your favorites up at home." She grinned wider as Bess Grumper raised a hand. "No, I'm not gonna give away Grandma's secret mu shu sauce, so don't ask, Bess."

The rest of the class laughed, and Taranee sent to Hay Lin, _"Showoff."_

"_Hey,"_ the Chinese girl returned, her lifelong association with Irma Lair evident in her upbeat mental voice. _"If you've got it, flaunt it."_ She continued verbally instructing the class in the proper folding of an eggroll.

The rest of the hour whiled away in that fashion, and then the girls headed off to the rest of their classes, each wondering about their missing teammate in her own way.

As she'd promised, Irma called Will on her free hour, just before lunch. Ostensibly given to her so she could eat before going 'Lair on the Air', Irma had long ago turned it into an extra hour to catch up on sleep, gossip with the other girls (via Taranee), or _horror of horrors,_ homework. Today's task of choice was much more important, though.

"Hey, babe," she greeted when Will answered. "How ya holdin' up?"

"_I'm … I'll be okay,"_ was Will's drawn-out response.

Irma sighed. Getting her best friend to talk was going to take up her whole free hour apparently.

"Anything you wanna unload about?" Best to be direct, she figured.

"_N-noooo … Why do you ask?"_

"Well, you're not in school, for one. Usually, something major has to go down for you to cut out, Miss Responsible. And it's obviously not work-related, or we'd be out with. So what happened?" She wanted Will to open up.

"_Family stuff, Irma, that's all,"_ Will said after the slightest (noticeable) delay.

'_Rats; okay, time for the DIRECT direct approach.'_ "C'mon, Helmi," Irma started pleadingly. She used the girls' new nickname for Will to try to butter her up before she dredged for dirt the mean way. "We already know you're out for the next couple of days for a funeral. Captain Obvious, a.k.a. Cornelia, pointed out it wasn't you or your mom, so what's going on?"

Will sputtered over the line for a second. _"How'd you guys find out already? I was gonna call you after school to fill you all in then." _She sounded almost_ offended._ Irma cringed.

"Relax, W. T was in the office with Missus R when Susan called, that's all. But since she didn't get any details then, we've been worried about you since homeroom, GF. So who checked out, huh?" As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Irma slapped her free hand over it.

Even as she was trying to mumble an incoherent apology through her fingers, Will said, _"My dad,"_ in a flat voice. Irma gasped.

"No way. Ohmigod. Uncle Tony? Will, what happened?" The girls had just seen Tony and Serena Vandom - fresh from their honeymoon – over the weekend in Fadden Hills. The Guardians went there for a cookout after the swim-meet between Sheffield and Will's old school, Fadden Prep.

"_Car accident,"_ Will murmured, almost too softly for the phone connection. Irma cursed colorfully for several seconds, before another thought made her gasp again.

"Will, is Serena all right?" Despite the malice the girls had all harbored for the gorgeous model, mostly out of loyalty to Will (and Susan), especially when Will thought Serena might have been Nerissa in disguise, they all had grown to like the lively young woman. Knowing her Ferrari was in the shop, and that Tony'd been playing her chauffer, placed her squarely in harm's way, as far as Irma's daughter-of-a-cop's mind was concerned.

"_Only if breathing counts,"_ Will answered, her voice ragged as she conveyed the next piece of info. She and her mom had just gotten the details from the hospital Tony had died in, and where Serena was recovering still. _"They've g-got her in ICU, Irma. Both legs and her left arm b-broke, fractured ribs, and a concussion she hasn't woken up from, yet."_ Irma could hear the fresh tears brewing behind her friend's haunted voice.

"Geez, Louise," the Water Guardian muttered. "Hang in there, Will. We'll all be over right after school, and we'll help any way we can, okay?"

"_O … okay,"_ Will responded, hiccupping back a sob of renewed grief. _"I don't promise Mom or I'll be the greatest company, but I guarantee we'll be glad to see you. See ya then, Irma."_ Will already sounded stronger as she hung up.

"Attagirl," Irma said to the dead phoneline, then looked up at the clock. _'Yikes! Only ten minutes before I'm due on the air! Now whad'd I bring for lunch again? And where did I hide it …'_ she mused as she started digging through her new transparent blue Poke'mon backpack.


	3. Unexpected Company

**Which Way is W.i.t.c.h.?**

By: _**A J**_

Disclaimer: I do not own W.i.t.c.h. or Amber. I'm merely a Fan of both expressing my appreciation through this original piece of fiction, with no monetary gain sought.

Chapter 3

'Unexpected Company'

Shortly after two o'clock, most of the girls showed up, with Cobalt Blue in tow. Will didn't blink twice over it, she merely introduced the band to her mom. Susan had to hide her smile as she shook hands with each boy in turn. There was Will's boyfriend Matt, of course, guitar player and lead singer; Nigel the bassist, and Taranee's BF, as Susan had learned that morning; Joel the drummer, who was dancing with the idea of dating Irma; and their most recent addition, Eric. The shy young boy was the replacement for their long-standing keyboardist Dominic, who'd recently moved to L.A. with his father. Eric played saxophone as well, and (surprise, surprise!) was welded to Hay Lin at the hip.

The group had arrived in Joel's van, an old red extended-passenger model with the last seat ripped back out to make room for the band's instruments. Just as Will turned to ask Irma where their missing friend Cornelia was, the blonde ice-skater herself, her boyfriend Caleb, his best friend Aldarn, and Cornelia's BFF Elyon all came riding up on their bikes.

The other Guardians had to fight down their giggles. The two boys were perfectly fine, but usually-impeccable Cornelia and Elyon were sweaty, out of breath, and looking at Caleb and Aldarn with murderous intent.

"You _know,"_ Cornelia started, once she'd gotten enough air in her lungs. "We _could_ have taken our _time._ Will's not _going _anywhere until _tomorr_ … OUMPH!" She was summarily silenced by Caleb, who pulled her into a kiss until she was breathless again … and blushing, to boot.

While the others broke into fresh gales of laughter, Irma nudged Will, who was safely encircled in Matt's arms. _"Looks like rebel-boy's finally learning how to handle her,"_ she whispered. Then out loud, Irma crowed, "Just look at it this way, Corny. Keep biking like that, and you'll keep that figure forever." With a smirk, she added, _"And_ that boyfriend!"

Caleb blushed as well at the laughs this time, while Cornelia yelled back _"Don't call me Corny!"_

Elyon came forward, shooing Matt away from Will, then wrapped her own arms around the red-haired Guardian. Pulling back, she kept hold of one of Will's hands while Matt resumed his embrace.

Susan, who'd been watching the silent byplay with a bemused smirk, was surprised when Elyon took hold of her hand as well. With bowed head, the young platinum-haired girl said quietly but clearly, "On behalf of us all, our condolences in your hour of grief."

Will burst into fresh tears at the solemn phrase, and Matt suddenly found himself at the center of a Guardian group hug as Irma, Taranee, Cornelia and Hay all embraced him and Will in a sympathetic rush. Matt exchanged an embarrassed glance with Susan's amused one, while the other guys razzed him about 'always getting the girls, just 'cause he was the lead singer'.

As the girls released their leader and her beau one-by-one, Hay gave Will a wink, and turned to Susan. "Alright, you two are coming to the restaurant for dinner tonight. _No excuses,"_ she added, as Will started to squirm in Matt's grip. "I figure you've got enough to do, so making sure you're not worrying about your next meal is the least I can do to help. Settled?" She glared – grinning the while – until Will and Susan both nodded with relieved smiles. "Good. Now, what else can we help with?" Hay continued as they all went inside.

"Actually, there isn't a whole lot, you guys," Will responded with a sigh. "We're already packed for the viewing, and the funeral's Wednesday night. Anybody willing for the trip is welcome, of course," she added, knowing Cornelia and Serena had become fast friends, fashionistas that they both were, and Irma had taken to her father Tony readily enough, once she was sure the business advisor wasn't gonna try to steal her new best friend away from Heatherfield. "The stuff at the lawyer's supposed to be easy, too. Right Mom?" She barely got an affirming nod from Susan before continuing. "Dad already had a will, scarily enough, with funeral decisions and everything written almost a year ago. It's kinda creepy, like he was _expecting_ something to happen."

"That might have been the 'Herald's idea, honey," her mom said. "Serena told me they had to upgrade their life-insurance carriers when they got married, so one of the stipulations might have been a will."

"May have been part of a pre-nup," Irma guessed, her 'daughter-of-a-cop's mind, and _way_ too many hours watching CSI programs, kicking in. Susan paled.

"No way," Taranee countered. With a lawyer father and a mother who was a judge, the braided Fire-mistress knew enough about the law (and just about everything else!) to be a veritable authority. "That kind of thing is to settle the monetary questions if the couple _doesn't_ think things'll work out. A will only gets done up when the going looks _good."_

"Well, I know for a fact Serena had her own account from her modeling work still," Cornelia said. When all the other women looked at her strangely, she just shrugged and added, "What?" I asked her, since she and I were talking about modeling, and I mentioned that my dad's bank was canvassing for a new teen-account poster girl. When I told her which bank it was, she said that that's where her account is."

W.I.T.H. and Elyon all gave her appraising – or _re-_appraising – looks. If Cornelia, flighty _Cornelia,_ was looking seriously for work, the world as they knew it _had _to be coming to an end.

The teens spent the climb upstairs in good-natured gossip and news about school. Taranee promised Will she'd get the red-head's class assignments to make up, resulting in several seconds of teasing from Irma until with one pointed comment about Irma's current history project, (long on research, short on work, and practically overdue,) the Guardian Leader turned the tide of conversation neatly back on her Watery friend.

Susan turned to unlock their apartment door to hide her smile, only to find that it was already open. _'That's odd,'_ she thought. _'I know I pulled this shut behind us … I _heard_ the auto-lock catch …'_ "Will?"

Will's head snapped around at the worried tone of her mother's voice. "What is it, Mom?" Susan held up her keys, shook her head, and gave the door an infinitesimal push. When it glided silently open a few inches, (_'Thank god Dean reminded me to keep the hinges oiled!'_ Sue thought,) the old 'We've got a problem!' signal registered in her daughter's eyes. It was something the two women had worked out a year ago living alone, after a spate of robberies in the neighborhood.

Susan watched the change that came over Will and most of the other teens in that next instant with the kind of fatalistic dread one watches a nearby auto accident; as an unavoidable circumstance you can't change, but also can't help but bear witness to. Without a single spoken word, Will was suddenly standing in front of a hardened line of defenders, who quickly and quietly created a half-circle in front of the Vandoms' apartment door, edging Susan back to one side.

With just a look and a nod, Matt, Nigel, Taranee and Will entered the door like a trained S.W.A.T. team, and the bewildered mother left behind in the hall watched as the rest of the teens closed their ranks, and Irma and Caleb both pulled out cell phones but didn't dial … yet. The tension in the corridor was palpable, and Susan couldn't help but notice that the only other one who didn't seem to know what was going on was Joel the drummer. He noticed her looking his way, and shrugged, just as confused.

Then Will's voice rang out to the hallway. "Who the asterisk are _you?"_ Susan thought the tone was odd for someone confronting a burglar, but the answer they all heard next _really_ threw her for a loop.

"Will! So, we finally meet!" There was a pause, during which Susan felt for a pulse at her own wrist, certain that she must have fainted, or … _something,_ to hear Tony Vandom's voice coming from, apparently, her living room. "Sue! Come in here, please. Your daughter doesn't seem to recognize me, even with the family resemblance, and I'd like to get things cleared up, here. I understand we have a busy few days ahead of us, and I really don't have the extra time to explain things as well as I'd like …"

The eerily similar voice cut off as Susan shoved her way between a surprisingly resistant Hay Lin and Irma to enter her apartment, to find Will and the other three teens facing a lanky young man who looked just like her husband had when they married. He was lounging on their sofa, with one of her good tumblers full of bourbon in one hand, and Will's new Stephanie Meyers novel in the other. He had the air of someone who'd been waiting for hours, even though Sue knew they'd barely been out of their apartment fifteen minutes.

"Well?" the handsome cad continued after downing the double shot. "Aren't you going to introduce us?"

Glaring at him, Susan fumed for several tense seconds, then … "Of course, where _are_ my manners?" Will looked askance at her mother's sudden solicitousness as the raven-haired woman blithely named off all the teens in turn, including the ones still peering in from the hall, then turned back to face her. "Will, this is your uncle, Martin Vandom."

Matt put a reassuring arm around her shoulders, and Will looked back and forth between the two adults from that safe vantage. "I have an Uncle? D-dad had a brother?" Her expression was incredulous, and Susan couldn't blame her; Tony had never willingly talked about his estranged family, and Sue had taken the cue from him.

"A sister, too," mystery-man Martin said. Will was relieved, if only slightly, to see that this was news to her mother as well. Several more seconds crawled agonizingly by, then he smiled winningly at Susan. "Join me, Sue? You know how I hate to drink alone." She felt her newly born resolve to tell him where to go as _im-_politely as possible flag, as it had so many times over the years when Tony had smiled at her like that. But one look at her not-so-little girl, now staring at Martin accusingly with her girlfriends arrayed supportively alongside her, each with their corresponding muscular – and glowering – boyfriends backing them up, reinserted the steel in Sue's spine.

"I don't think so, Martin. As a matter of fact, we were just getting changed to go to dinner … at the Lins'. Isn't that right, Hay-hay?" Susan, like the rest of W.i.t.c.h. and their families, had long ago adopted the silly nickname Irma had given Hay Lin back in grade school, much to the Chinese girl's chagrin. (To the other girls' humor, she _had_ confided that it was better than 'Corny'.)

"Huh? Oh! Yes, that's right! My Grandma thought, and quite rightly too, that our girls had quite enough to think about, so we're feeding 'em tonight." She looked inordinately proud about that as she said it, and Irma knew why: the idea to invite Sue and Will to dinner had been all Hay's doing back at lunchtime, when the Water Guardian had appraised the others of their Leader's tribulations. Yan's only input had been as the deciding vote on whether to go along or not. Actually, it had been Hay, Joan and Chen against Yan and her Altermere 'twin sister' Mira. The elderly Lin women had been looking forward to a quiet Monday night at home, but now faced the inevitable insanity of dinner with the younger Guardians. Or half of them, anyway; Cornelia and Taranee couldn't get out of their own family plans, so mostly the Lins were subject to the insanity that was Irma.

"I … see," Martin responded, with the air of someone decidedly unused to not getting his way. "Well, I'll call on you in the morning, then. Goodnight, Sue; Will." With parting nods to them both, he took his leave, breezing through the last few confused teens still near the doorway like the owner of a nightclub crossing his own dancefloor.

"_God, what a …"_ Cornelia started.

"_Jerk,"_ Elyon finished the telepathic sentence. The other four girls looked at her in relief, certain Cornelia's chosen adjective would have been much racier, if more descriptive.

"Well, grab what you need," Hay Lin said after the still-mystified Joel had shut the door behind the departing Martin. "And we'll get you two out of here before Mister Uncle gets a fresh bug up somewhere and comes back."

Will and Susan nodded, chuckling, and rounded up their purses, keys, phones and in Will's case, real shoes. She'd gone down to meet the others at Joel's van in her froggy slippers, earning her a good-natured round of giggles and 'ribbits'. (Her words to her mother in self-defense had been "Hey, nothin'll cheer me up faster than cheering then up.")

Thus prepared, they all headed down to their vehicles. Matt and Nigel good-naturedly offered to take Cornelia and Elyon's bikes as far as the Silver Dragon for them, and the two girls' enthusiastic acceptance had the others laughing all the way to the Chinese restaurant.


	4. Random Emotions

**Which Way is W.i.t.c.h.?**

By: _**A J**_

Disclaimer: I do not own W.i.t.c.h. or Amber. I'm merely a Fan of both expressing my appreciation through this original piece of fiction, with no monetary gain sought.

Chapter 4

'Random Emotions'

Susan parked her Accord with a contented sigh. Dinner with the Lins had, as always, been delightful and delicious. Even listening to Irma prattle on about nothing and everything had been a novel experience. Susan remembered a momentary pang she'd had during the brunette's running commentary about - she completely blanked on the subject - but had suddenly worried that she and Will didn't just sit and talk like that anymore. Sue fervently hoped it was just a syndrome of her daughter's teenager life, and that the two of them would eventually return to their pre-Heatherfield friendship. _'Any day now …'_ she added to the thought wistfully.

Will hopped out to get the apartment door while her mom took care of her nightly auto lockdown. Their neighborhood had suffered over the three years they'd been there, and their new habits bore it out. Will felt especially bad about the theft problem, since if she and her friends hadn't been so busy saving the Infinite Dimensions from each other, they could have put a stop to it with ease. _'One of these days,'_ she thought sadly.

Car locked, Club™ on the steering wheel, and deadswitch engaged, Sue joined Will at the door. The pair took looks in each direction, (Will always included up, to her mother's perpetual amusement,) then hurried inside. Both of them were saddened by the fact that, even with a family friend on the police force, they still didn't feel safe in their own neighborhood.

Once inside, Susan sent Will to get both their black outfits and hang them just outside the bathroom for their morning rush. Will got her mom's first. Susan had left it on the door of the door of her closet before the teens had arrived earlier. But when Will went to grab her own from her room, she found something on top of her lace-edged blouse, which she'd lain across the edge of her bed during the morning's tumult.

A small rectangular box awaited her.

"What the frak is this?" she muttered, plucking the box up. It wasn't heavy, but it was strangely cold, like it had just come out of a refrigerator. Stranger yet, as she grabbed it, the Heart of Candracar gave one of its ringing chimes. She recognized the chime from whenever the Guardians had come across another magical artifact, like the Seal of Phobos, or the Key to Balo Tocc. Since the Heart hadn't immediately taken offensive or defensive action, Will figured this item was safe to examine. _'Huh? Make that _these _items,'_ she amended, when she opened the box and found a deck of cards. "Wait your turn, jealous thing," she murmured soothingly, holding her hand and the Heart over her own thumping organ.

She plucked the cards out and found they were, if anything, colder than their container. Flicking through the deck, she marveled at the artwork of the cards. It wasn't an ordinary deck of cards, she realized, it was a tarot set. Suddenly thankful to Irma and Hay's sporadic forays into researching Earth's magical traditions, Will fanned the deck softly. During their tenure as the Guardians, each of them had had their palms read by Irma, their horoscopes plotted by star-watcher Hay Lin, and even their numerology charts done by a skeptical Taranee. (None of the rest of them had been up to the math.) When Cassidy had given Irma an old tarot deck for Christmas last year, the Water Guardian had gone out, picked up a copy of 'Tarot for Dummies', and proceeded to do a spread for each of the girls. That plain set had been a poor cousin to the masterpieces Will held in her hand now.

Each card looked hand-painted. The swords and cups depicted were straight out of museum displays. Will had no clue what art values must be like for something this beautiful, (she was sure Hay could have told her in a heartbeat,) but had the disturbing feeling she was holding a priceless heirloom. Then she got to the Arcana, and gasped. Each one was a portrait, but all were hauntingly familiar. It was as if she'd seen each person, place, or scene portrayed _somewhere before …_

She was admiring one of a glorious castle on top of a mountain, the Tower card appropriately, when her mother yelled from the apartment's bathroom.

"_Oh, I cannot believe …_ Will! I need the box!" Susan yelled.

Hastily casing the tarot set, Will snapped upright. "Huh? What box?" she called, slipping the deck into her pocket.

"The box in the linen closet! You know … the women's supplies!" her mom answered.

"Oh! On the way, Mom," Will exhaled in relief. Grabbing her black outfit, she hung it next to her mother's and got their feminine products out.

"Oh, thank God," Susan said when her daughter handed her the boxful. "It couldn't happen at a worse time, but I can't complain, considering …" She stopped talking so suddenly Will looked back in at her.

"Mommmm?" Will locked eyes with her mother, and Susan deflated.

"Well, you know I'm dating Dean …"

"Oh, my God, Mom, don't tell me …"

"Almost …"

Will smirked mischievously. 'And here I thought the reason Dad and Serena invited us all over last weekend was to tell me I was gonna have a little sibling from _them,_ first …" At her own words, she paled. "Oh, ohmigod, oh Mom, I am _so_ sorry …"

"No sorrier than I am, sweety," Susan managed. She finished her routine, and with a sad expression – for several reasons – flushed and exited. "I … I'll see you in the morning, Will. It's been a long day." Mother and daughter hugged each other silently, then both went to their rooms.

Will slid the deck of cards out of her pocket after closing her door. Flipping back to the one of the Tower, she sat on her bed and slid that one away to reveal the next card. She almost dropped the whole deck with a gasp. The Emperor card looked just like her father!

Heart thumping, breath short, Will did her best to try to remain calm. _'This can't be happening!'_ she screamed inwardly. First, a mysterious uncle she'd never met … never even _heard_ of, before … now, an equally mysterious gift that showcased her father as the … what? _'What is all this about?'_ she thought, looking at the card again. Then her day, already turning into a surreal nightmare, _got weirder …_

The card, or rather the tiny portrait on the card, _answered her!_

"_What is what all about?"_ the tiny man in the tiny picture asked._ "Who are you?"_ If she hadn't been completely freaked out, Will would have been as scared as she was reassured that she hadn't noticed that he was talking to her telepathically, just as the other Guardians did.

"Will," she managed to croak. "I'm Will. Don't you recognize me, Dad?" If it wasn't him, she was really setting herself up for some serious therapy later.

"_If you're Will, then I'm not your father."_ The tiny man, dressed in brown and black medieval garb, looked for all the world like a laird of Meridian to her. He looked at her closely, seeing her crestfallen expression at his pronouncement. With a wry grin, he amended, _"I'm your grandfather. My name is Random."_


	5. Waking Dreams

**Which Way is W.i.t.c.h.?**

By: _**A J**_

Disclaimer: I do not own W.i.t.c.h. or Amber. I'm merely a Fan of both expressing my appreciation through this original piece of fiction, with no monetary gain sought.

Chapter 5

'Waking Dreams'

"_My name's Random. I'm your grandfather."_

Will gawked at the tiny talking portrait for several seconds. Then she blurted "Hi, Grandpa." They were both quiet for a few more seconds, looking at each other. "Uh, why are you trapped in a deck of cards?"

The blonde man in brown blinked in bewilderment, and then he started laughing.

"What? What'd I say?" Will asked belligerently. Today was already weird enough. Cosmic jokes, she _so_ wasn't in the mood for.

"Martin didn't stick around to explain the Trumps, I take it?" he asked, still laughing.

"Martin didn't stick around to explain _anything."_ She didn't add that they'd basically kicked him out for being a … jerk. She smirked as Elyon's kindly epithet came back to mind. "He _did_ say he'd be back in the morning, though. We've got a two-hour drive to get to Dad's …" Will clammed up, and shut down, as fresh tears threatened. He watched her fight them off for a few seconds, then cleared his throat.

"_Will, I'll be there tomorrow, and we'll talk then, okay? Rest well."_ She nodded miserably twice, once for both requests, and then the card in her hand stopped moving. It was still cold to the touch, though.

She guessed that that meant it would still work, but she really didn't feel like talking any more, tonight. She flipped it over and back again a couple times, but it didn't move again to her relief. She caught sight of the pattern on the back, and gave that a better look. The back was Lapis blue, with a gold filigree border scrolling around a beautiful portrait of a rampant unicorn. A quick check showed that the back of the rest of the deck was the same, except for two cards. Those two had a red serpent in an ouroborus on a shimmering black background. Will flipped them back to see what they held.

Two more portraits, of a black-haired man and a red-headed woman much like herself, both young, with the same nose, and something similar about their eyes. Not the color, which were blue and green respectively, or even the shape. No, it was something in the way the artist, whoever that was, had captured them ... like they were having the same _thought._

Will shook her head at that. How could she tell what the subject of a tiny painting was _thinking?_ She put the strange Tarot set back in their case, Random's picture on top, and went to bed.

_w.i.t.c.h._

Susan woke up in the middle of the night with a headache, and a bizarre dream. She'd seen her little girl waving goodbye as Will stepped into a rainbow in midair, and vanished. Susan had had strange dreams before, and they'd all come true, that she knew of, except the last few. Since their move to Heatherfield, her quasi-psychic premonitions had called a strike of some kind, only showing her outlandish visions of her and Will flying, and Dean fighting a giant snake, then a dark angel in a gold mask. She remembered the last one she'd seen that _had_ come true, though.

The girls. Those wonderful girls, Cornelia, Elyon, Hay, Irma and Taranee, who had befriended her daughter when the two had first moved to Heatherfield from Fadden Hills. She'd seen them in her dreams the night before they moved, and knew that Will would be okay. Unfortunately, she always knew when it was a vision instead of a dream, by the headache. The last one in Fadden Hills had been a two-aspirin vision. The freaky one about the gold-masked angel had been a four. The next day had been full of so many ups and downs, between her date with Dean at the carnival when she'd almost fallen off the boardwalk, and her weird conversation with Will that night, that she'd almost forgotten about it before the second vision hit her the next evening.

That one, of her and Will flying together, had given her another three-aspirin headache, and also the sensation that her visions, which had always been almost news-reel real to the situations they showed, were instead taking on a more symbolic quality. The battle between Dean and the dark angel was almost surely her near-death on the boardwalk, when Dean had saved her from the dangerous fall. The second vision, a night later, had convinced her that she and Will, while maybe not flying, were at least traveling together on the same path again.

"So what does my little girl disappearing over the rainbow mean?" she murmured to herself, digging in her nightstand for her aspirin bottle. Tonight was a three-tablet mobster too, pounding away like some goon with a sledgehammer busily working on the insides of her temples. She wished she hadn't lost her dream dictionary when they moved here. She hadn't seen it since then. "Hunh, I'll have to stop by the Esoterium while we're in Fadden Hills, and see if they still have a copy," she said, drinking some water to wash the aspirin down. With a sigh, she rolled back over and waited for the pills to work, so she could go back to sleep.

_w.i.t.c.h._

Hay Lin awoke with a gasp, and dove for her sketchbook. Scribbling away, she put down as many details as she could of the dream she'd just had. Will fading into a rainbow from the top of a stone stepladder. She cursed as her pencil lead broke, and fished around under her bed for the big box of crayons she'd tossed there after watching Lillian Hale and Chris Lair over the weekend. Rubbing in hasty shades, she concentrated on the image as long as she could, and when the picture was nearly complete, she let the dream finish fading. "Okay, now, friend on steps, rainbow, fading. Let's see what we've got, eh?"

The skinny Chinese girl dug back under her bed, discarding a small library behind her and tossing any clothes she found onto the bed as she went. "Ooooh! _There's_ that top! That'll be _perfect_ for the service tomorrow! Now where ..? A-_HA_!" She crawled back out from halfway under her bed, and plunked down on top of her laundry to start flipping through the dream dictionary Will had lent her when she had her first visionary dream two years ago. "Now, fading's first …"

She took notes on the back of the picture, and remembered to stuff all her clothes in her hamper, except the white blouse she'd found last, which she took out to the washer and left on top with a note to her mom to 'Please, _please, PLEASE_ wash this for me for the funeral after school. Thanx, HML.'

She forgot all about the picture, and the dream, by morning.


	6. Highway to Hell

**Which Way is W.i.t.c.h.?**

By: _**A J**_

Disclaimer: I do not own W.i.t.c.h. or Amber. I'm merely a Fan of both expressing my appreciation through this original piece of fiction, with no monetary gain sought.

Chapter 6

_'Highway to Hell'_

Susan woke with a groan. Last night's headache never had faded away. Rolling over, she thumped a hand on the empty side of her bed. Dean was out of town at a history symposium, about whatever he intended to teach about next semester, and he wanted to add the newest information unearthed to his class' curriculum. While she could applaud the man's devotion to teaching, she was mad as #&][ that he was gone just when she needed him.

"Maybe it's for the best," she sighed to herself. It meant she and Will could concentrate on each other, and getting through the next few days together. Maybe they'd even find their mother/daughter common ground, which had been missing these last couple hectic years in Heatherfield.

Sue was halfway through her second cup of coffee when Will finally appeared in the kitchen. "Mrng, Mmmm," Will mumbled through a yawn, digging a diet cola out of the fridge.

"Good morning to you too, honey," Susan laughed. Will flopped into the chair facing her, opened her soda, and drank the whole can in one go. Her mother watched with a faint smile, and pushed the other half of her bagel across the table.

Will's eyes lit up at the sight of food, and she took a large bite without thinking about it. Her eyes went wide and watered. "H-H-Himerish's holy robes, Mom," she gasped. "What's _ON_ this?"

"It's just an everything bagel with garlic cream cheese," Susan answered blithely, finishing her coffee. She went to get herself ready while Will was still trying to wash the taste away with a second soda.

_w.i.t.c.h._

They were on the road to Fadden Hills an hour later, a disgruntled Martin Vandom driving behind them in his rented Mercedes. Sue had wanted her car accessible, regardless of what her overbearing brother-in-law said, and had gotten behind the wheel of her Accord without one argumentative word in his direction. Without _any_ word, now that she looked back, and smiled with pride. She spared a glance back at the dark Mercedes mini-limo in her rearview mirror, and sighed.

For the life of her, she didn't know why he bothered with the ostentatious gas-guzzler. She already knew his family was rich; Tony had become a financial whiz managing his chunk of the family holdings originally. She supposed once they got to the funeral parlor, it would stand out a lot less in the procession to the graveyard than her British-racing-green ricer. She sighed with a smirk, and looked over at her daughter, who was busily texting away on her phone.

"Who are you talking with, honey? Aren't the other girls still in school?"

"Yeah, they are, but I caught 'em between classes," Will said distractedly. Her mom didn't need to know that between their various Elemental gifts, the members of W.i.t.c.h.e. and their boyfriends could keep in near-constant communication. The others were actually still in class, three of the gang currently sitting through the torture of Dean Collin's substitute history teacher, Elyon's mother Eleanor Miriadel Brown.

In an effort to improve their cover lives on Earth, both the Browns had gone back to school. Miriadel, a former Captain in the Meridian Army, had gotten a degree in military history, and a teaching certificate. It had come in handy over the years, as she could substitute at Sheffield in order to keep an eye on her adoptive daughter and monarch, Elyon.

Alborn, a.k.a. Thomas Brown, had joined the police force, taking advantage of his years in the Royal Guard and his passing friendship with Guardian Irma Lair's father. Another Thomas, Officer Lair welcomed his daughter's friend's father onto the force, and after Alborn's six months as a rookie were through, the two became partners. Officer Brown was using Alborn as his middle name on Earth anyway, and since Tom Lair had been on the force for years, all the other officers now called him 'Al'.

Al was who Will was actually texting with at the moment, having him do a surreptitious background check on Martin Vandom to see what the story was with her mysterious uncle.

_YEAH,_ was his reply, after the computers in the station had had time to digest the query and spit out a response. _BIG-TIME MONEY-MOVER OUT OF THE NEW YORK AREA. HAS AN AUNT IN POUGHKEEPSIE, EVELYN FLAUMEL, AND A SISTER NAMED CHANCE IN A PRIVATE BOARDING SCHOOL IN WESTCHESTER. NOTHING ABOUT HIS FATHER RANDOM OR TONY MENTIONED. WILL, THE STATE OF THESE RECORDS LOOKS A LITTLE FAMILIAR. LIKE THEY WERE MADE, LIKE OURS._ Will knew he meant Alborn and Miriadel's whole Earthly existence, magically cobbled together when they had arrived from Meridian fifteen years ago.

SOMEHOW, NOT TOO SURPRISED, she sent back, remembering her mystical conversation with Grandpa Random last night, and huffing her bangs out of her eyes. She should have grabbed a couple of pins to keep her hair out of the way for the day. Then she spied her mother's collection of spare paperclips, chained together around the rearview mirror, and nabbed a couple with a grin. Susan caught her daughter's emergency hair-care act out of the corner of her eye, and smiled as well.

"Keep that look up, and we'll turn you into a cubical-monkey yet," she teased.

Will harrumphed good-naturedly. With the amount of extracurricular activities her system had gotten used to over the last three years, there was no way she could ever settle down into the life of an office flunkie. As was, she could understand why even seventy-year-old Yan Lin was capable of the hectic day-to-day running of a restaurant. It let her stay active.

_KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN, GUARDIAN,_ Al typed to her next. _WE SEND OUR CONDOLENCES , BUT WON'T BE ABLE TO MAKE THE SERVICE. CONSIDER CALEB OUR GOOD-WILL AMBASSADOR FOR THE EVENING._

WE'LL MISS YOU THREE, THANKS. Will hung up, and settled back with a sigh.

"What is it, Will?" Susan asked, after a few moments' silence.

"Elyon can't make it; something came up with her folks," Will said, staring out the window. 'Sending Caleb' meant the Browns had to go back to Meridian for something important. It just reminded Will that their universe didn't leave time for grieving.

"Hmm, well I hope it's not too bad, they've had enough problems, haven't they?" Sue murmured. Even without knowing the real story, she knew that something had been very wrong at the Browns' the first year she and Will had been in Heatherfield.

"Me either, Mom," Will replied tersely, apparently concentrating on the scenery flowing past at seventy miles an hour. _'Me either.'_ They were both silent the rest of the ride.


	7. Scenes from a Funeral, part 1

**Which Way is W.i.t.c.h.?**

By: _**A J**_

Disclaimer: I do not own W.i.t.c.h. or Amber. I'm merely a Fan of both expressing my appreciation through this original piece of fiction, with no monetary gain sought.

Chapter 7

_Scenes from a Funeral, Part 1  
_

The people of Fadden Hills arrived _en masse_ just before the service started. Randall Vandom, known in other realms as King Random of Amber, stood by the door, saying polite "Hello,"s and shaking hands. All the while he was on the lookout for his one truly-awaited guest to show up. His son, her father, was gone from this shadow. It stung, knowing there was nothing he could do for Tony these many years. But the boy had taken his decidedly non-magical life and made it into something of worth to himself, after all. Too bad he'd seemed to take after his own grandfather, the late King Oberon. Two beautiful wives, a child by each of them, and then a sudden death in his prime.

At last, he saw Martin, moving up the driveway before the funeral home in Flora's Mercedes. The Prince braked too hard, drifting the rear tires a bit as he pulled into the parking spot just passed the steps.

'_Better hope Flora didn't hear that, boyo,'_ Random thought as the rubber chirped. His sister still hadn't forgiven himself and Corwin for what had happened to her last car from Earth. That had been a Mercedes too, Random remembered with a smirk. _'Speak of the devil,'_ he thought, as his erstwhile brother came over to stand by him.

"Heck of a turnout," Corwin said as he stopped at the other side of the doorway. "Makes me wonder how well-attended my funeral was." Random Chuckled. The family, thinking him dead several centuries ago, had held a casketless funeral for his elder brother. The tomb still stood on the slope of Mount Kolvir, gathering moss, bird's nests, and the occasional broken bottle whenever Corwin got moody and went up there to get drunk.

"Not nearly this many people liked _you_," he told Corwin as Martin ascended the steps … alone. "So, Martin … where's my granddaughter?" His older – his _only_ son – flinched.

"Dad, you remember the girl he married? The one I introduced him to? Susan the obstinate, who you swore could give an out-stubborning to Aunt Fiona? She insisted on bringing her own car," Martin said, as he pointed out the dark green Accord pulling into the lot. "Wilhelmina rode with her."

"Wilhelmina, "Corwin repeated with an air of disinterest, but Random knew his brother was trying to take a measure of the girl he'd conversed with by Trump briefly last night from her name alone, sight-unseen. "How did she take his death?"

"She's fifteen; how do you think? She cried all over her boyfriend; she called all her girlfriends; she ate Chinese. Were you expecting her to come hellriding up here to smash the other driver to smithereens?" He shook his head. "She's not one of you … one of _us_. _Chance_ could take her."

"Chance could take Dworkin," Random bit out, "which is why she's getting the special tutoring she is, until her powers are under control. And you never know, son. Will might surprise you." He smiled, remembering how easily she had adjusted to using the Trumps last night. "I hope Vialle makes it in time; she never got to meet Tony, but when I told her about him, Susan, Will and Serena, she was anxious for us to bring them out to Amber. I'm sorry I put it off this much too long."

"Nothing the rest of us aren't guilty of," Corwin said good-naturedly. "Time to suck it up, and make the best of the rest of the situation."

"Is that how you dealt with being Dara's prisoner for a dozen years?" Random asked. "Just 'sucking it up'?"

"Hardly," Corwin countered. _"I broke things,"_ he finished in a whisper, as Susan and Will came up the steps.

"Well, Susan, I see you declined Martin's offered chaufferage," Random began, smiling fondly at the beautiful, dark-haired, strong-willed girl (_'Woman,'_ he reminded himself,) who'd taken his younger son's heart. He tried to reconcile her Mediterranean looks with the titian tomboy next to her. "This must be Will," he beamed, holding both hands out to her. Will took them tentatively, but as soon as they made contact, he projected as much acceptance and reassurance as he could muster, with the circumstances.

"You must be Randall. Hello, grandfather," she replied. She took another step up, and he found she'd inherited his height, or lack thereof, the poor girl. It had to be in the genes somewhere Random mused, since Fiona, Llewella, Caine, and now Chance were all barely taller than five feet as well. He and Will embraced, and had to separate almost immediately from a strong static shock. "Sorry," she said sheepishly, and he realized it must be a common problem for her. "I don't wear wool often, and _that's_ why." She turned and gave her mother a well-meaning glare, which Susan rolled her eyes at.

"Hello again, Mister Vandom," Sue said, stepping into his embrace next. Her embarrassed grin was so like her daughter's when they parted, Corwin laughed. "Well, okay … Randall," she corrected herself, "But I just never got in the practice of thinking of you as 'Dad'," she continued, making air-quotes. Random chuckled.

"As soon as I met you, I knew one of my boys would marry you, Sue. I've always thought of you as a daughter." He turned back to Will. "Now, what's this I hear about a boyfriend, young lady? I hope he's worth your attention." Will blushed until her cheeks matched her hair.

"You'll get to see for yourself, Grandpa. He and my friends are coming out for the funeral, right after school."

"So how come _you're_ not still in class?" he teased mildly.

"Oh, I kept her out," Susan said. "We have more than the funeral to deal with, after all. In fact …" She dug her phone out of her purse. "I got a call this morning from a lawyer, with condolences, and he said to stop by after the service. Searching through her call log, she found the name she was looking for. "Martin, did Tony ever mention a Bill Roth?"

"He wouldn't have," Random came to his stymied son's rescue. "Bill's the family's attorney. You won't have to call him back though; he's here." He turned to look, and Corwin pointed. Bill was standing by their blonde sister Flora, nursing a Scotch & soda from the wet bar. The brothers both shook their heads. Bill didn't do funerals well; he hadn't since the death of his wife back in the eighties. Random swore, Susan gasped, and Will and Corwin both chuckled. "Martin, see if you can air him out before he embarrasses himself. The last thing we need are drunk lawyer jokes from Droppa." Martin jogged off dutifully.

"So who are you?" Susan asked Corwin.

"My older brother Carl," Random answered first. The older Amberite let it go; it was Random's son's funeral, after all. "Well, half-brother. Carl Corey, meet Susan Vandom." They shook hands.

"Susan _Reynolds,"_ she corrected. Random sputtered. "Oh, you of all people should know better. He's _your_ son," she told him. Then she added, a beaming smile directed at her daughter, "Besides, I'd like to think I got the better part of the bargain."

"I'd have to agree," Corwin said, taking Will's hand next. Instead of shaking it however, he raised it to his lips and kissed the back. _"Enchante, mademoiselle,"_ he said smoothly, getting a giggle from her.

"Corwin ..!" Random admonished, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I thought your name was Carl?" Will asked.

"It is. He's a member of the S C A," Random blurted. _'Cover … cover …'_ he thought, glancing around nervously. He may be the king in the one true world, but here on Earth he was just an ordinary guy trying to attend his son's funeral with his notorious brother in tow. "I call him by his _character_ name when he ticks me off. Like now. Right, _Lord Corwin?"_ Corwin put his hands over his heart in mock mortification, and Will giggled again. Susan rolled her eyes.

"If you three are _quite_ done …" She went past the unrepentant brothers and inside. She paused to let her eyes adjust, then looked around at all the people crowded into the funeral home. "Whoa, _everybody's_ here …"

"Suze? Suzie!" a high-pitched voice called from her left, just before she was engulfed in a short pair of fleshy arms and assaulted with an engorged baby-bump.

"Aimee, hi!" Susan said, returning the embrace. "Wow, you look like you're ready to pop."

"I know, right?" the shorter woman replied as the two women separated. Then they both laughed. Aimee had worn exactly the same top as Susan. "Heh, you can take the girl out of Fadden Hills …"

"But you can't take the Hills out of the girl!" the two said together, then laughed again.

""Is this a funeral or a reunion?" asked a tall woman from the other side of the doorway.

"Jane?" Sue asked as the speaker stepped to Aimee's right side.

"Who else would crash your ex' funeral?" Jane Payton swept her light brown hair back in a move that reminded Susan of her daughter's friend Cornelia. "So where's Will? Stephanie _insisted_ she got out of classes early to come along and 'comfort her cousin'."

"She was right behind me, talking to Tony's father Randall," Sue started, looking back toward the door. She spotted her daughter's distinctive mop of red hair hanging over the shoulder of another girl, one with dark blonde hair. "Looks like they found each other Jane," she said with a grin, pointing.

Aimee sighed, eyeing the two girls. "Poor Clarissa; she's got such a problem with her dyslexia still, I had to leave her in classes 'til the end of the day. They're supposed to have a test in English this afternoon ... I told her to just do her best." The pregnant woman sighed again, one hand on her lower back. "Well, I'm for finding extra seating … for all three of me. I'll see you after the service, if they don't have to rush me out to deliver in the meantime, Suze."

Susan and Jane gave Aimee a hug each –not too tight, just in case – and wished their old sorority sister a gentle (and mortuary-friendly!) delivery.

Aimee waddled off, and Jane turned long enough to pull her husband away from his circle of cronies. "Richard, come on, you can harangue Chalmers tomorrow at work all you want. Today's for Sue and Tony."

"Don't you mean Serena and Tony?" Richard countered drolly, turning their way. "Oh, Susan! Hello …" he continued in his Boston drawl. "Not the widow I expected to be consoling …" he said, bypassing her outstretched hand and pulling her into a too-tight, too _friendly_ hug. Jane glared daggwers at the back of his head as they parted. Susan flushed and sidestepped so his hand would slide the rest of the way off her behind.

"Hello … Richard," she muttered. "So … how have you three been?" Sue directed to both of them, nodding at Stephanie as well.

"Oh, you know Fadden Hills," Richard said with a shrug. "The more things change, the more they stay the same."

"With a couple notable exceptions," Jane countered, looking after Aimee, then back to Sue. Their daughters both joined them then, and Susan wrapped an arm around her teary-eyed girl.

"Hey, I thought you came here to cheer her up?" she teased Jane's blonde daughter.

"She did, Mom," Will managed. "She got me crying _laughing …"_ The parents all looked quizzically at Stephanie.

"Oh, I was just telling her how we _almost_ got Angelo to join the swim team," Stephanie giggled. "He took one look at the school Speedo, and ran for it."

"Shattering dreams you and Clarissa have been harboring all year too, no doubt," Will added, laughing again. "You'll just have to drool over him at the track meets."

"Hey, like you're any better," Steph replied. "Always bragging about your dark angel of a band-boy-toy in your e-mails …"

"_Ixnay,"_ Will coughed, rolling her eyes in her mother's direction.

"Like there's any doubt about how you and Matt feel about each other, honey," Sue chuckled, gently squeezing her almost-grown baby sympathetically.

"So … Matt's his name, eh?" Random interjected from behind them. Susan and Will turned, to find him grinning good-naturedly at them both.

"Yeah, grandpa Randall," Will muttered, eyes downcast. She couldn't really hide her own grin though.

Someone cleared his throat behind Jane and Richard. "Ladies and gentlemen," the older man said as all turned his way. "I'm Mister Jase Cambourne, your host. Viewing is in the Amber Room, to your left," he continued with a wave of his arm to indicate the door in question. The owner of the Cambourne Mortuary, who looked like Patrick Stewart with Professor Severus Snape's hooked nose, then led the way in.

Will balked at the door. "Mom ..? I … don't think I can do this …" Susan drew her aside, so they weren't blocking the ingress of the others.

"Oh, honey, believe me, I know just how you feel …" Susan uttered into her daughter's hair. Will was sharply reminded that a younger Sue Reynolds had lost her father when she was Will's age. An uncommon but unfortunate occurrence during the first Gulf conflict, it had left Sue raised to become just like her own independent mother Kathleen Reynolds.

"Man this sucks," Will sighed. "Is it us?"

"What? Why would you ask that?"

"Well, I mean … Grandma Kate lost her dad to Vietnam, then grandpa Carlos died when you were a kid … now Dad's gone … Did somebody curse the Reynolds women?"

Sue did her best not to laugh at the idea. "No, honey, I hardly think so. I think it's just … the law of averages. Grandpa Marco and my dad were both in the Army, so … high-risk job, right? And your dad … well, honey, those safety films in driver's ed don't lie, you know …"

"Let me guess," a voice said from over her shoulder. "'Blood on the Highway'? Or, 'The Train Always Wins'?" Will gasped, and Susan spun, all set to slap senseless the insensitive arse who'd say something like that at a funeral from an auto accident. The face she nearly clobbered drew her up short in shock. _Him_ she'd hardly expected to see here. "Whoa! Sorry, Suze! Didn't know you took car safety that seriously!" the young auburn-haired man responded, catching her slowing hand inches from contact.

"Luke ..!" Sue sputtered. "Oh … you ..!" She gave a couple unsuccessful tugs to free her arm, then just slapped him with her other hand. He staggered back, an almost-comical hurt look crossing his features. Then he straightened up, tugged his shirt collar stiffly, and nodded her way.

"Okay, ya got me, Suze … I probably deserved that one."

"Go, Mom," Will uttered. "What'd he do?"

"_HE,"_ Susan fumed, "was almost your father … until common sense slapped me one, 'bout like that."

Will looked askance at the man before them, with his wild red-blonde hair and a salesman's smile, which he directed winningly her way. Will smirked back. She'd known passlings; this guy had _nothing_ on Blunk.

"Ah, come on, how was I to blame for your lack of good judgment back in college?" Luke asked innocently.

"My ..? You were two-timing me with that she-8!+#, Carol!" Sue fired out. "Then you dropped both of us like hot rocks, to go out with my newest roommate, Gail! And then you two transferred to Berkeley, and we never heard from either of you again!"

"I blame my post-teenage hormones," Luke oozed, still smiling. Will was reminded now of her friend Irma, whenever the Water Guardian turned on the charm to talk her way out of trouble. "Would it help if I told you Gail broke my heart a week before the National Meet in senior year?"

"Maybe … She break anything else while she was at it?" Susan fumed.

"Er, my brand-new Ray bans?"

"Well, I was hoping to hear of grievous personal injury, but I guess three-hundred-dollar sunglasses come close." Will giggled at her mother's dismissive tone.

"Who is this charming young lady?" Luke asked, leaning a bit to see around Sue better.

"My daughter Will," Susan said simply. "Tony was her father."

"Holy …_you? _And_ Tony Vandom?"_ Luke looked from Will to Susan and back twice, then gave a weird shudder. "And here I thought _my_ choices in college were bad …"

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" Will seethed, her hair crackling faintly with quintessence static. Luke backed up another step unconsciously, only to bump into the quartet coming in behind him.

"Luke? What's the hold-up?" the dark-haired woman now on his left asked.

"Nayda … nothing, nothing …" Luke began, nonplussed by the brief burst of electrical mayhem he could have _sworn_ he'd seen in young Will Vandom's eyes.

Will was just as distracted from their imminent confrontation by the four other people. Three women and a young bearded man (who looked sort of like the man on one of the two snake-backed cards from her new Tarot deck, and a _LOT_ like her newly-met great uncle Carl,) now stood behind Luke. Nayda of the dark hair gave her mother's college frienemy an elbow in the ribs with a muttered "Sure." The tall auburn-haired woman on her right had an intricately jeweled headband, and when she turned to look at Will and Susan, the girl saw that it was part of an elaborate patch for the woman's right eye.

Will was just turning guiltily away, absolutely sure she'd been staring, when the Heart of Candracar under her blouse gave an irritable buzz against her breastbone. _'Oh, what now?'_ she was starting to wonder, when Randall and Martin Vandom came back out, looking for her and her mother.

"There you are! We were beginning to think you'd two had skipped out on us …" Martin started saying to Susan, when he saw the five people they were standing in front of. "…Oh."

"Yeah," Susan snorted. She couldn't help noticing the almost unconscious way Luke and Nayda's hands twined together, even as they and all their companions turned to look at Randall. Or, almost all …

Random stepped over to the new group, taking the hands of the slight woman standing to the right of the rest of them. While all the others' eyes were on him, her gaze seemed to float somewhere over Martin's shoulder. This didn't stop her face from lighting up at his touch, and she leaned up just right to kiss him. "There you are!" she sighed when they parted finally for air.

"I was afraid you wouldn't make it to … Fadden Hills," Random replied.

"Merle arrived just in time to escort me … and Coral, of course," she told him with a smile, giving a nod to her left. The bearded man gave a rueful grin and a nod of acknowledgment of his own. His arm was linked with the tallest woman.

"Mom, she's …" Will started.

"I know," Susan replied, wondering herself. This wasn't Tony's mother; old Missus Tricia Vandom had passed away after Will was born, of diabetic complications too numerous to name. Was this Martin's mother, perhaps? Even as she pondered, Randall was escorting the blind woman forward with all the deference one would show a queen.

"Will, Susan, I'd like you to meet my wife, Vialle." He let go of her hands, so she could extend one in greeting. "Dear, this is Tony's first wife, Sue," he said as he gently guided their hands together. Susan gave him an admiring smile for his total lack of awkwardness or condescension in the act. Vialle herself was taking concentrated hold of Susan, letting her other senses tell her of the woman who'd married her beloved's younger son.

"So nice to meet you," both women said at the same time. The adults around them chuckled, while Will, still trying to figure out what the Heart had been trying to tell her, just grinned distractedly.

"This is their daughter, Wilhelmina," Random continued the introduction, after Vialle had released Susan's hand. A gentle touch of his hand to his wife's back let her know which way to turn.

Vialle hadn't the heart to tell him it wasn't needed. Will shone like a beacon to her otherwise-sightless eyes. Some other sense told her exactly where to extend her hand, and as soon as the younger woman (_'So much younger, _too_ young for such pain!'_ she caught herself thinking,) made tentative contact, Vialle pulled her gently in to a long, heartfelt embrace. "Will, darling Wilhelmina, all will be better now," she murmured into her newly-met granddaughter's hair.

"Uh, if you say so, grandma Vee," Will said self-consciously against her. She grinned at the others around them sheepishly.

"Dear," Random said finally, when Vialle showed no signs of releasing Will. "The viewing's just in the next room." The rest chuckled as she finally relented, and she and Will stepped apart.

"If you say so, Mister Vandom," the Queen of Amber said with a faint smile. She took his arm, and he motioned for the others to precede them. As they fell in at the last, Vialle gave him a nudge. "Grandma Vee … I think I like it," she smiled.

_W.i.t.c.h._

**Author's note:** Sorry for the lengthy delay for this chapter, folks. Trouble with Real Life kept impinging in my scant writing time. So here's chapter seven, just in time for the holiday, and I'm not going to move it to the Crossover section after all, so everyone can relax. I might put up some companion pieces there, for the _Chronicles of Amber_ readers I've managed to attract, but when remains to be seen. I'd like to thank Lexvan, who's graciously permitted me to borrow his O.C. Angelo for a cameo appearance in this and the next few Fadden Hills chapters. (As promised, NO SPEEDO! ;D ) And as always, thank you, my many readers (and especially the reviewers) for making this one of my most-read stories so far. Catch ya on the flipside, so don't get caught in the downslide, A J.


	8. Scenes from a Funeral, part 2

**Which Way is W.i.t.c.h.?**

By: _**A**__**J**_

Disclaimer: I do not own W.i.t.c.h. or Amber. I'm merely a Fan of both expressing my appreciation through this original piece of fiction, with no monetary gain sought.

Chapter 8

_Scenes from a Funeral, part 2_

"Come _on_, Corny, we're gonna be _late!__"_ Irma hissed through the bathroom stall door. They were in the rest stop halfway between Fadden Hills and Heatherfield, they still had over an hour's drive ahead of them, and it was already after five. "The service is at six," Irma continued her harangue.

"Thank you, captain obvious," Cornelia sighed from inside the stall. "And I'd come out if I could, but I kind of can't, yet … oh thank Zamballa," she uttered, as Taranee burst into the ladies' restroom. "I wasn't sure if you heard me or not!"

"It almost didn't matter," the braid-adorned girl yelped, edging past Irma and leaning to pass her purse under the stall door to Cornelia. "And … I think we scarred Joel for life."

"Yeah, well, better his grey matter than my new grey upholstery," Cornelia snorted, to the background sound of ripping packaging. "I'm just lucky you had anything with you."

"You're also lucky we were just leaving the lot, and not out of range, or I wouldn't have 'heard' you at all." They were interrupted by the door to the outside opening.

"What's taking so long?" their Airy friend asked. "Did Cornelia fall in?"

"Hey!" roared from behind the stall door. Irma chortled.

"No fair, Hay-hay; you stole my line," she said, chuckling.

"No, she just had the usual Guardian run of luck, Hay." Taranee took her purse back from the Earth girl as Cornelia finally came out.

"Don't forget to wash your hands, Corny," Irma smirked.

"Bite me, _Irmy,__"_ Cornelia snapped, as she was headed towards the sinks anyway. "Rassin' frassin' stupid …of all the times to be reminded of being a woman …" Water running interrupted her rant for a moment. "You know what's _really_ bad? I'm not even due 'til the end of the _week!__"_

"Ew. T M I," Irma jibed.

"Hmm," Taranee countered.

"What?" Hay asked.

"Oh, Goddess, spit it out, Braidiac," Cornelia sighed.

"Just, well … how do we know that the time flow is constant between dimensions? I mean … who's to say that an hour on Earth isn't like … oh, a _week_ on Learza, or vice-versa?"

"So … you're saying I'm on time anyway, _and_ I'm early, just 'cause we don't spend all our time _here_?" Cornelia whined. "Goddess, I hate our job …" Hay giggled as she watched Cornelia's normally amber aura take on some of Taranee's banked-fire ochre tint.

"It could be worse, Corny," Irma quipped. "You could be _late_ …"

"That's it, T, get Nige … _She_ can ride with the rest of the reprobates," Cornelia snarled, glaring over her shoulder at Irma as she stalked back out to her new 'sweet sixteen'-mobile. Starting the hybrid up with a scowl, she revved the engine for emphasis.

"As long as I still get to sit next to Eric," Hay sang, bounding out to climb into the back seat of Cornelia's leaf-green Prius next to her boyfriend.

"My work here is done," Irma said with another smirk, and walked out to Joel's van with a swagger to her hips. Taranee just rolled her eyes and followed Hay Lin.

_W.i.t.c.h._

Nigel sighed as they pulled into the Cambourne Mortuary lot. "_Finally_," he uttered under his breath, thankful Hay Lin was in the other vehicle. Not that he didn't love the hyper girl to death as much as the rest of them; quite the contrary. He was just glad she hadn't been privy to the last forty-five minutes of near-constant swearing he'd been sub-vocalizing underneath Irma's near-constant string of inane chatter in between challenging the boys to rounds of travel tunes. If he ever heard another verse of 'Bottles on the Wall', he'd be tempted to commit homicide. _'__If __it__'__s __from __Irma,__ I__'__d __prob__'__ly__ make__ it__ slowwww,__' _he added to himself.

As he climbed out of Joel's van, Taranee came marching up to him. Before he could so much as say 'Hi,' or 'What?' when he saw her super serious expression, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. Deeply, Desperately. Remorha-and-shark-level, attached-at-the-lips-level kissing. Just when he was happily resigning himself to a life of learning to have to eat by osmosis, she released him with a '_pop__'_!

"Never let me ride with them without you again," she sighed against his chin, giggling at the wolf-whistles her antics were inspiring. She turned to glare at Hay and Eric good-naturedly. "You two are lucky you're both too good. If an officer of the law had stopped us, you'd be dragged off for lewd and lascivious behavior by my testimony." They both just stared at her in shock at the unexpected reprimand.

"You got off light in the love-mobile," Nigel muttered just to her. "It had to be mountain loads better than riding in the 'Camp Sing-A-Long Bus'. He sent his own glare at the completely oblivious (and therefore totally unrepentant) Irma.

"Fine, next time we have to go somewhere, we steal my brother's Honda," Taranee said with a smile.

"You kidding?" he replied. "I say we let him drive and _we_ spend some quality time in the back seat." He set a teasing kiss on the tip of her nose, and she giggled again.

"Hey, come on, lovebirds," Matt said as he climbed out from all the way in the back of the van. "We're already running late."

"Fashionably so," Cornelia countered as she walked past with her other passenger, Caleb. Taranee and Nigel sighed, and joined the ranks of fresh attendees to Tony Vandom's service. Most of them were dressed in somber black save Hay, in traditional Chinese mourning white, and Caleb, who was in his cleanest brown dress clothes. He still hadn't been persuaded out of his old leather duster, however much Irma had started to tease him about the long coat becoming his security blanket.

The Guardians and band members (Caleb moonlighted as their roadie,) entered the Amber Room as the family's hired minister was finishing his eulogy. A polite smattering of "_Amens_," went round, and the teens all hurried to the back row of seats while everyone's attention was on the next person stepping to the podium.

Martin Vandom came forward, his hair still showing the delineations of his old Mohawk 'do. "I … I'm really no good at this kind of thing. I didn't really get along too well with my brother. It's a trait I've heard is hereditary, sadly." He said, giving his father and Corwin a wry smile. Corwin's answer was to pretend to get Random in a headlock, earning the pair a few chuckles.

"Tony was more than just my younger brother. He was the financial whiz of the family. There's no arguing we started with more than a bit of money. Grandfather … Byron was an old hand at robber-barony, and he gave us all a decent head start. Everyone here knows what Tony managed to do with his, and he did his best to help out friends and family as well … When we'd listen to him …" That got him another laugh.

"I think he's just fine at this," Vialle told Random softly. He pulled her hand up to kiss, and nodded in agreement with it against his cheek. She smiled.

"I'll be the first to admit I didn't kow my brother as well as I could have; as well as he deserved. Apparently, he was a a helluva guy, and we'll all miss him." Martin walked away quickly, suddenly self-conscious.

Will watched him stalk off, noticing all her friends from Heatherfield arrayed in the back row as she did. She nudged her mother and nodded their way wit a grin. Susan smiled at the rest of the W.I.T.C.H., then looked at Matt and gave a wave towards her and Will. He raised his eyebrows, and she nodded, repeating her summons.

"Whattiya think, Nige? Good or bad?" he asked the bass player.

"Dude, we're at your girl's dad's funeral. It can only _be_ good." Matt nodded, and slid out of their row of seats to join Will and Susan in the front row. _"__Hey,__ Angel ...__ How__ ya __holding__ up?__"_ he asked her telepathically when she latched onto his hand.

"_Better__ now __that__ you__'__re __here,__"_ she sent back. She was about to lean her head on his shoulder when her mother stood up. "Mom?"

"I'm next, honey," She glanced in Matt's direction, and he grinned and nodded back, realizing why she'd called him forward: to sit with Will. Susan stepped to the podium. "Hello, everyone. On behalf of Serena, Will, and myself, thank you all for coming today. I know Tony would have appreciated it."

"I'm sure you all know our marriage wasn't perfect – few enough are, now – but I'd like to think we both learned from it, and that's why he found new happiness with Serena. I'm sure she could regale us with some super-sweet anecdotes of their recent nuptials; so for your sakes, I'll just thank her for us."

"Marital incompatibility aside, I did love Tony, and I'm glad I stuck with him long enough to bear his daughter." She looked fondly down at Will, who smiled back, blushing and trying not to cry anymore during the service. "I'm also glad to count Serena amongst our family. We're all going to have to be there for each other now without him."

"He's got another wife?" Vialle asked Random quietly.

"Yeah, guess he took after my old man … and me ... in more ways than one."

"You mean ..?" He just nodded.

Vaille sat in thought for a few seconds, letting her 'people-sense' (as he liked to call it) get a feel for the room at large. "They don't know, do they?" she said finally. It wasn't a question.

"We'll deal with that after this," he told her, shaking his head sadly.

"How did _you_ find out?" she couldn't help asking.

"The doctor who worked on them both at the hospital."

A light tingle at the edge of his awareness got Random's attention. Recognizing Flora's mental touch, he shot a quick glare over his shoulder at her two rows back on his right. He sighed.

"_What, Flora?"_

"_You__'__re __missing __your__ daughter-in-law__'__s __beautiful __eulogy, __little__ brother,__"_ she chided gently, then cut the Trump contact. He sighed again, but faced forward attentively. He was the King after all; he could be magnanimous.

Taranee whipped her head back and forth in the back row, overhearing the telepathic exchange with her Guardian gift. Clearing her mental throat, she addressed Will privately. _"__How __much __do __you __have __to __tell__ us__ about__ your __family, __mizz__ leader?__"_

Will started against Matt's side. _"__There__'__s __too__ much __I__'__ve__ still __gotta __find __out__ first,__ T. __All __I __know__ so __far __is __that__ my __uncle __and __grandfather__'__re__ magicians, __or __something.__"_

"_Hmm,__ so__'__s__ your__ beautiful__ blonde__ aunt __Flora,__"_ Taranee told her. _"__They__'__re__ talking__ telepathically.__"_

"_You__ heard __them?__" _Will asked, glancing at her grandfather out of the corner of her eyes.

"_What__'__s__ up, __Angel?__"_ Matt chimed into the conversation through their clasped hands.

"_Something __strange __about __my __dad__'__s__ family,__"_ Will told them both. She filled them in on what Al Brown had found out online for her.

"_I__'__d __wondered __why __Caleb __was __so __quiet __in __the __car,__"_ Taranee mulled. _"__Okay, __so__ … __S__ O __P __then?__"_ Matt and Will both rolled their eyes.

"_Wait__ til__ something__ blows__ up__ in__ our__ faces,__ and__ kick__ some __mystical__ keister,__"_ Matt recited with a mental chuckle.

"_Sounds __about __right,__"_ Will sighed_.__ "__I__'__ll __keep__ you __updated __as __things __progress, __either__ way, __guys.__"_ She huffed her bangs out of her eyes where they'd escaped from the paperclips. A different thought occurred to her. _"__Hey,__T?__ If__ you__ can__ hear__ them,__ what__'__s__ to__ say__ they__ can__'__t __hear_ us?"

Taranee looked slowly at each of Will's gathered paternal relatives. None of them had so much as shifted uncomfortably during the trio's exchange. _"__This__ sounds__ weird,__ but __... __I__ don__'__t__ think__ they__ can__ … __their__ convo__ sounded__ … __kinda__ like__ radio __over__ the__ telephone,__ if__ that__ makes__ sense.__"_

"_So,__ different __kind __of __signal __or __something?__"_ Matt asked.

"_Sounds__ about __right,__"_ Will repeated, thinking of the magical card she'd talked to Granpa Random through last night. If they had to use tools like those as mystic walkie-talkies, as opposed to the heart-powered direct-connect the girls and their allies shared, it made sense they operated differently.

The teens were brought out of their speculations by Susan Reynolds, as Will's mom stepped from the podium, tears streaming once more down her cheeks. Will did her best to bury the guilt that welled up when she was so blatantly ignoring her own father's funeral. It uncomfortably reminded her again of the conversation with Alborn, and her thought then that their lives didn't leave time to mourn. A pained sigh rattled from her as Susan sat back down on her other side.

"I take it from that that you aren't ready to go up there?" Sue asked Will.

"Not willing," her daughter replied hesitantly.

"Fair enough," Susan sighed. "You should do your best to pull yourself together for the internment, though. I think it would do you good to say something."

"… sure, mom …" Will managed to say after a tense moment.

"I'll be right there with you, Angel," Matt said, kissing her hand. Sue realized he'd held it throughout her lengthy eulogy.

"Thank you, Matthew," Susan told him, smiling gently, as Will gave him a bump with her shoulder.

"We're headed over to Saint John's after this, right Mom?" Will asked.

"To see if Serene's awake yet," Sue nodded. She glanced over at her ex-in-laws. Randall and his wife were talking quietly with the bearded man Vialle had entered the mortuary with. The tall woman next to him said something softly to the trio, then got up, her jeweled headband and eye patch glinting under the over-bright lights of the Amber room.

As Coral walked out, she paused, glancing at the four Guardians in the back row quizzically. Irma and Hay grinned back manically, and Coral just left the room. She could settle the mystery of the magical girls at the funeral when she got back; she had a more urgent task to see to. Once out of the room, she concentrated for a moment on the Pattern within.

The children's magic had distracted her momentarily, but listening to them had shown only their own concern over the unknown mysticism in their midst. _'__Ah.__There __it __is__ … __Deiga,__ where__ Caine __fell__ to__ Rinaldo__'__s__ bullet.__'_ Coral stepped into the ladies' room, and then into a stall, where she used the Pattern called to mind to transport herself to Deiga.

Hay had followed the tall woman quietly and invisibly, as best she could, only to walk into the restroom just as Coral disappeared. Hay waited for the brilliant tracery that had limned the older woman's aura to dissipate, then ran soundlessly back to the Amber room. The other W.I.T.C. weren't going to believe this!


	9. Scenes from a Funeral, part 3

**Which Way is W.i.t.c.h.?**

By: _**A J**_

Disclaimer: I do not own W.i.t.c.h. or Amber. I'm merely a Fan of both expressing my appreciation through this original piece of fiction, with no monetary gain sought.

Chapter 9

_Scenes from a Funeral, part 3_

Between speakers, Clarissa snuck from where she'd been sitting with her parents and the Paytons, crossing the aisle to slide in next to Susan, Will and Will's dreamy boyfriend, Matt the musician. "That was beautiful, Aunt Suzie," she said quietly.

"Thanks, Clara," Susan said, giving the copper-haired girl a quick hug. "So, how'd you do on your test?" Clarissa groaned.

"I won't know 'til _next_ week, but I'm _sure_ it's not too good," she replied. "Stupid mainstreaming public schools …" she muttered.

"C'mon, 'Rissa, fergitit," Will said from her other side, with a nudge. "You hate to read, I can't do math, and Steph spends _waayyyy_ too much time on her hair. Pobody's nerfect, right?" Will grinned at one of her oldest friends. Matt, who'd tensed for a second at her calling the other girl Rissa, gave her temple a kiss.

"_And you still wonder why you're the leader of the Guardians?" _he sent._ "There ya go, Angel."_

"Someone say my name?" a girl with dark blond hair asked, appearing on Matt's other side as if teletransported. "Budge up, band boy, she was ours first." Will found the comforting embrace of her boyfriend replaced with the thinner arms of Stephanie Payton.

"S'up, cuz?" Will chuckled. She rolled her eyes from Steph to Clarissa and back. "You two get tired of terrorizing Angelo?"

"Nah, he had to disappear into the little pallbearer's room," Clarissa giggled.

"Small wonder," Susan countered, "when you two have had him trapped between you all evening. It reminded me of the scene from '_New Moon'_, where the two boys were both waiting for Bella to hold their hands in the theater." Will and her mom both laughed evilly at the blushes the other two girls sprouted.

Matt looked up just then, to see the African-American boy in question sneaking in to sit at the back by the rest of W.i.t.c.h. and Cobalt Blue. Angelo caught Matt's eye, and made a '_shush_'ing gesture. Matt hid his grin and turned studiously away, to see Merle going out the door Angelo had come in.

Randall Vandom was up at the podium now, clearing his throat for attention. "I didn't really come prepared for this today, I was planning on saying something tomorrow at the interment instead. But I wanted to thank you all for coming out tonight, and saying your farewells to my … my son …" He broke off, and Martin in their family's row of seats exchanged a mournful look with Susan, then Luke. '_Ahem_!' "Well, there's a wake tomorrow afternoon, at the Viscount on … Eleventh, after four. Hopefully you can all make it there, and we'll give Tony a real send-off." He stepped away, and turned the lectern back to the hired Reverend who'd opened the service earlier. He'd have to remember to thank Florimel for her recommendation; Father O'Connell had really come through for them.

_W.i.t.c.h._

The crowd was milling around after Father O'Connell's final remarks, when Taranee whipped her head around towards the exit. _"Guys … she's back." _ The rest of W.I.C.H. opened us their senses, searching surreptitiously for the recently vanished Coral.

"_Got her,"_ Cornelia replied shortly, silently thanking the hanging fern by the rear entrance for its assistance. _"Back hallway, girls. She's with Merle."_ Will had taken pains to get names for the rest of her extended family who were attending. She'd then described each one to the other girls.

"_On our way,"_ they all responded telepathically. "'scuse me, Mom, Aunt Jane," Will told the two women. "Privy call." She wended her way past consoling old friends of her parents and well-wishing coworkers of her father to the far exit, and skedaddled to the rendezvous.

"_FINally!"_ Hay giggled when Taranee and Will got to the workroom bowels of the funerary business; the crematory, the preparation and embalming rooms, and the casket storage were all at the back of the building on the hallway leading to the two-hearse bay.

"_So where ..?"_ Will started, when Cornelia pointed with a smirk at the door of the storage area as it opened, revealing Merle and a disheveled Coral. One look at her condition and the girls forgot the majority of their anticipated inquisition. "Aunt Coral, what happened?"

Seeing her welcoming party, the Bearer of the Eye took a moment to collect herself. "It is good to see the mystic warriors of this shadow are so alert. That may help you save your world."

"Isn't that a bit dramatic, Coral?" Merlin asked, as the Guardians gasped.

"Not given the circumstances," she replied. "Caine's body is missing from Amber."

"Amber? Like the room?" Will wondered, aiming a thumb back to where her father lay in state.

"It _was_ the King's inspiration for selecting Mister Cambourne's business," Coral told her.

"The King? What, now Elvis is involved too?" Irma deadpanned, earning a giggle from Hay Lin. Cornelia and Taranee's gazes met, matching exasperated smiles showing. Will facepalmed with a groan.

"Which King?" she asked.

"Who's Elvis?" Coral began at the same time. Merle cleared his throat, giving the woman a warning glance.

"We need to tell the others," he stated. The pair stepped through the gathered girls, and were about to continue on to the Amber Room and the dispersing service, when Cornelia nabbed Coral's sleeve.

"Yes?"

"You might want to freshen up before going back in there," outfit-conscious Cornelia said, with a nod at Coral's sand- and dust-covered clothes.

"She's right. There's no point alarming the uninvolved," Merle sighed. "I'll collect the Court, go ahead and get presentable." He gave her a chaste kiss, and went back to the gathered mourners, stopping to talk quietly to the various Amberites on his way through the crowd.

"Ooh, we can help!" Hay chirped to Coral as W.i.t.c.h. escorted her to the ladies' washroom.

"How so?" Coral inquired. They stepped inside, and after an affirming nod from Hay Lin that they were alone, Taranee locked the door.

"Drop your top layer, and step back," Cornelia answered with a smirk.

"Is this safe?" Coral asked Will, who nodded.

"We've had lots of practice," the redhead reassured her relative.

"Why would I have to disrobe for a simple cleansing spell, though?" Coral continued, a hand protectively over the copper buttons at her collar.

"Er … have ya ever been steam-cleaned?" Hay countered with an impish grin. Coral blanched, and hastily shucked her outermost clothes.

Will used quintessence to levitate Coral's outfit, while Cornelia called the various forms of Earth from it. Then Taranee and Irma teamed up to steam the clothes, and Hay gave them an instant drying with super-hot Air. Will held the outfit back out for Coral with a smile.

"Impressive," the auburn-haired woman said, re-donning her dress and coat.

"Thanks … So, who was Caine?" Will retorted.

"One of your grandfather's older brothers … and mine," Coral replied. "I never met him. He was killed before I found out about my parentage. Now, I've sworn to let Random tell you anything else you want to know, so let's rejoin the others with Merle." She gave them each a good long look, using the Jewel of Judgment to see into their beings. What she found startled her. _'My, what would the others think of this?'_ "My thanks," she said, indicating her clean clothes.

"Oh, you're very welcome," Hay told her, grin back in place. She couldn't wait to ask Will's statuesque aunt about that glowing line woven through her aura. It had become brighter just then, catching the Air Guardian's attention as the older woman was giving them all a once-over. _'Maybe that's _her_ power showing,' _the Chinese girl thought._ 'After all, our aura's all show our Elements.'_ She followed the others out, barely managing to reign in her usual boisterous energy in the face of the somber gathering.

"Why is it you all always disappear together?" Susan accused teasingly when the girls returned to the Amber Room.

"Sheer coincidence," Irma answered blithely. She gave Sue her habitual cheeky grin before going over to stand with Joel and the rest of Wreck 55. Matt came over behind Will in her stead, wrapping his arms around the redhead, and she leaned against his chest with a sigh.

"So, I take it this is the boy in question," Random chuckled, stepping from the circle of well-wishers nearby. "Matt, right?" he continued, holding out a hand.

"Yes sir," Matt replied, shaking it.

"I hope your intentions toward my granddaughter are honorable," Random quipped with a grin, which Matt returned.

"You better believe it, Mister Vandom. I'm too afraid of her for them to be otherwise." That got him a round of giggles from the other girls and a growl from Will. She reached up and pulled him in for a kiss.

"_And don't you forget it,"_ she teased him telepathically. Will caught Taranee rolling her eyes at them from the corner of her vision, and gave her braided friend a mental raspberry.

"Well, we have much to discuss, granddaughter mine," Random chuckled. He looked up then, and his smile dimmed noticeably. "I daresay you'll have to wait 'til tomorrow to catch up with Bill, Sue. He's not going to be much use to anyone tonight … unless it's as a karaoke partner …" They all looked over to where Martin and Corwin were propping up a _very_ inebriated Mister Roth.

"And a bad one, at that," Merlin added, recalling a night in Amber when Bill, similarly deep in his cups, had warbled off-key to some blues tune Random and Martin had been jamming away on in the castle library. The other Amberites, familiar with the phenomenon, chuckled or cringed as was their musical wont.

"We've got to go see about Serena at the hospital still, anyway," Will interjected before the whole conversation could be hijacked by the topic of music. She'd seen it happen often enough with her boyfriend and his bandmates.

"Hopefully you'll make it to dinner with us afterwards," Luke said from Merle's other side. He and his fiancé, Coral's sister Nayda, were already in their coats, taking their temporary leave of Vialle. "We're all staying at the old Viscount on Eleventh, Sue. I hear their alfredo's still pretty good …"

Susan gave him a glare over Randall's shoulder, then said to her father-in-law, "We'll be at the house tonight … I still have keys. Is anyone else coming to the hospital?"

"I think just us three," Random replied, indicating himself, Vialle, and Martin.

"Four, brother dear," Flora amended. "I'd like to ensure my Mercedes survives _this_ trip." She gave Martin a significant glance.

"Ah, _fugedaboutit_, Princess," Bill slurred from Carl's supportive grip. "'s'just tires …"

"I'll catch back up with you all at the hotel restaurant," Corwin sighed. "Merle, could you help me get him into my car?"

"Sure, dad," Merlin nodded, his grin hidden by his beard. Giving Coral's elbow a squeeze, he pulled Bill's other arm over his own shoulders, and the trio made their way out to Carl Corey's rented Aston Martin.

"Somebody's got delusions of Bond-dom," Irma grinned, getting another giggle from Hay, while Joel and Nigel whistled as they all watched the English import roll smoothly out of the lot. The boys from Heatherfield – and half the girls – gasped appreciatively when they saw what the Aston had been hiding. A red '57 Chevy Bel-Air held court over the newer automobiles in the mortuary parking lot. The teens' admiration only grew when Merle Corey stopped watching his departing father, and turned to the gorgeously-preserved red machine, keys in hand.

"What does Merle do for a living?" Will asked Coral quietly.

"Er … something in computers," the tall woman answered.

"Who for?" Sue queried, not remembering his name from any project Simultech was working on or with – or was watching out for – lately.

"Oh, he came up with something while at Grand Design at the end of the eighties, and has been living off the royalties ever since," Luke interjected. Flora and Coral both chuckled at his phrasing. Nayda, who knew Luke was talking about Ghostwheel, had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing outright. While posing as Gail Lampron, the _ty'iga_ had been privy to the younger Amberites' activities at the time, but that had been after the college sweetheart pair of Luke and Gail had parted ways with Susan, Martin, and Tony to go to UC Berkeley out west.

"Okay, that's six of us for the trip to Saint John's then," Flora said.

"Seven," Will and Matt interjected together.

"Will …" Susan started, parental instincts flaring.

"Hey, I'm just along to get you two there and back in one piece," Matt countered, hand up in a placating gesture. Will nabbed them and wrapped his arms back around her with a grin.

"How late you wanna stay, man?" Joel asked from the nearby group of Heatherfielders. "'cause we've still got a three hour drive back."

"Actually, I'm staying here 'til tomorrow, for Will," Matt told his best friend. Joel and the others stared at him. "I've already got a room at the 'Thirteen Colonies' we passed on the way here."

"_Matt_?" Will asked telepathically.

"_Chill, Angel. I've got three years B-day money and Christmas cash saved up. A night sleeping at the local no-tell motel won't hurt me or my bank account," _he replied, kissing her temple where her lone remaining hair-(paper)-clip still held tight. He repeated his explanations, _sans_ endearment, to the others as well, to see smirks on several of their faces.

"So long as that's the _only_ service you avail yourself of in that establishment, I may actually revise my opinion of you," Martin Vandom drawled.

"Speaking from experience, cousin?" Luke countered with a smirk. "Any particular ladies you'd care to recommend – or warn him about – at said establishment?" Martin's scowl, and Matt's blush at the turn of the conversation, had everyone chuckling nervously.

"Then the rest of us oughtta _vamanos_," Eric to the others from Heatherfield, hoping to diffuse the tension. It got him a giggle from Hay Lin, and a kiss.

"Any chance they have another vacancy?" Irma asked. At the sudden incredulous stares now directed at _her_, she just said "What? I'd rather stick around for the service tomorrow than deal with school, that's all."

"Relax, girls. Even if they don't, I promise we'll get back out here for the interment," Cornelia told her teammates, jingling her keys.

"Well, that's at noon, girls," Susan told her daughter's best friends.

"Good thing the teachers at Sheffield love me," Taranee sighed. "That'll be my first missed school-day since … wow … since the chickenpox in second grade!" She and the rest of W.i.t.c.h. grinned.

"You sound like our sister Fiona," Flora sniffed, "Too studious for your own good."

"How many sibs do you _have_, Grandpa?" Will asked, eyes wide. Just when she thought Carl, Flora, and Brandon her (shudder) mother's ex-boyfriend Luke's dad were the end of the list, they'd casually drop another name in conversation … Like Caine, who Coral had mentioned when she returned … Will whipped around in Matt's grasp to look at Coral again. Her _Great Aunt_ Coral, if what she'd said in the ladies' room was true.

"Too many, sometimes," Random mused, to the chuckles and groans of those Amberites present. "You'll get your chance to meet them all soon enough. Now, let's away to the hospital, to see about your other ailing parent, shall we?"

"Yeah …" Will and Susan said quietly together. Matt walked them out, holding Susan's car door open for her before walking Will around the green Accord, helping her into the back seat, and climbing in with her. The remaining attendees could see the redhead cushioned against his shoulder as they left.


End file.
